Hellfest 2024: From Festival Camping to Homestay Accommodation. Our Tips for Affordable Accommodation
As the Hellfest approaches with a bang, the least prepared festival-goers are still looking for the best spots to camp or stay. Here is our guide to accommodations to fully experience the largest metal festival in France.
Forget the stereotypes of metalheads drinking beer and rocking out under a tree. To headbang properly in front of your favorite bands, you need a decent roof over your head where even an exhausted roadie would find sleep.
Escaping the chaos of the festival for the serenity of a local cottage is like trading your studded leather jacket for a silk robe. If you have found accommodation with locals in Clisson itself, the ground still trembles a bit.
Despite the metal tectonic plates making your body tremble, they will help you recover from the temporary tinnitus of “Temple” or “Altar.” The advantage is being able to park your car and do everything on foot.
Inter-generational bonds are formed, with some festival-goers staying with the same hosts for years, bringing gifts from their region and sharing the eternal aperitif, of course.
Last year, Fabien, Céline, and Keriann, the “Riri, Fifi, and Loulou” of metal, told us that from their first Hellfest, they chose to stay with locals.
The hosts from the early years of Hellfest have become true friends, just like those met on-site. The Irys, Sylvain, Joss, Séverine, Mouss, Gilles, and many others have become “hellpotes” that they even manage to see outside the festival.
We love staying with locals while camping because it always leads to beautiful encounters and exchanges with other festival-goers.
It’s not always easy to find Clisson residents with available space, as regulars reserve year after year, but you can always try through the local tourist office in Clisson or via specific Facebook groups.
Hotels are for those who believe that “sleeping in the mud” should remain a metaphor. Enjoy beds that have never seen a sleeping bag and showers without a waiting line. Local hotels offer special packages for festival-goers, including shuttles to the site and extended breakfasts.
Eric and Massimo from Lorraine have been staying at a hotel in Vallet, not far from Clisson, every year since 2010. They always book their room year after year, recalling a time when a kind owner offered them a place to stay when no rooms were available due to a misunderstanding.
It must be said that the horde of strange people, dressed all in black but not always, and listening to loud music, was not necessarily as well received in the past.
If a twenty-minute bike ride doesn’t scare you, then don’t hesitate to expatriate. Since 2017, Saint-Hilaire-de-Clisson and Saint-Lumine-de-Clisson have created temporary campsites to accommodate rock-thirsty festival-goers.
Glamping is for those who love metal but not the mud. If your idea of nature is to see trees in a Black Metal music video, glamping is for you. Imagine suspended tents, a dome, a wooden chalet, all in the vineyard and equipped with everything needed to survive a wild mosh pit.
Better than a night at the museum, a night at the Hellfest campsite. Imagine a place where the ground vibrates not from earthquakes but from heavy bass. It’s the official festival campsite where pitching your tent is an art, finding it is a miracle after midnight, but the atmosphere is electrifying 24/7.
If you’re too old, if the slightest fly wing flap wakes you up, if shared showers with hairy buttocks in front of your eyes bother you, or if you don’t want to hear the sweet music of the Macumba tent, an improvised nightclub under a tent playing French hits from the 80s, there’s the Easy Camp.
No need to bring your gear, nothing to set up, just enjoy the aperitif from the first night. It’s turnkey with four options: cardboard tents, tipis, wooden chalets, and the new Tiny Houses, all located near the festival entrance.
For those who believe that sharing their passion for metal creates unbreakable bonds, there’s Couchsurfing, offering couches as welcoming as a comforting hug after a concert. For those who like to eat dust, there are external parking lots, or by the roadside, lying in their van or converted vehicle.
Remember, camping is free but only accessible to pass holders. Arrive early on Wednesday, June 26, at 4 pm until midnight on Monday, July 1.
Last year, our music specialist, Eric Guillaud, shared some good stories in his article: Hellfest 2023. Metalheads recount their first night at the campsite.
If you think that sharing your passion for metal creates indestructible bonds, there’s Couchsurfing, offering couches as welcoming as a comforting hug after a concert.
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